Its a home invasion that happened in Wichita, Kansas that will chill your blood. Granted, their remote locality helped things, but how many people just act like sheep, stay quiet and hope things go away?

I'm not sure if I will carry around the house, but a gun is always nearby and I never open the door without checking to see who is there first.

The suggestions for motion activated lights are excellent. They are easy to install and not very expensive. I doubt that a true home invasion (as opposed to a housebreaking) would be easily discouraged, but a loud dog barking might keep some criminals out. For those that don't want the things that do with having a real dog, you can buy a device what comes equipped with a wireless motion detector/sender and a "box" that houses the "dog". The bark is pretty loud and, properly positioned will make the person approaching the door think you have a real dog. I believe the unit is sold as "Robo Dog" and you can find it at Smarthome as well as some other sites. Last I saw the price for the complete unit was under $100 and you don't have to buy dog food!

If you have a sliding patio door, crooks can easily enter by lifting the locked door out of its track. To prevent this, CAREFULLY drill two holes in the track above the door frame. Install some # 8 sheet metal screws approx. 1.25 inches long - they need to be long enough to engage the far side of the track to form a "block" at both ends of the closed door. Position them so the door slides as normal. An old broomstick cut to length and laid in the track will prevent the door being slid open should someone force the rather weak lock that most patio doors come with. All windows at ground level should be "pinned" in the closed position. This will force a crook to break the window making noise which hopefully you will hear. Simple pins for this job can be made using 20 penny nails; drill a hole at an angle (slightly larger than the nail); the hole should be in the window frame (if the window is wooden) and go into the track. Nail should be a snug fit but can be removed by hand. For aluminum frame windows, the hole should be at 90 degrees to the window in the track.
Use a small block of wood (painted to match the window) with a slightly larger hole through it - nail passes through the wooden block wedging it to the top of the closed window.

Hope this helps. Obviously if you have a security professional among your acquaintences or living in your neighborhood, most of them will do a home security survey for free. Most of the time the police are not of much help with this, but some departments do have a crime prevention unit and they are normally pretty sharp.

They caught two of the gang that did the original home invasions, the guys are from Crooklyn, I mean Brooklyn, need I say more? There are four others in the gang that robbed houses in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau, all at gunpoint. The Nassau taskforce also got a member of the "bloods" street gang that beat and robbed a home on Halloween, while dressed in a mask in a copycat home invasion. No time to feel safe though, how many uncared for children are there in Brooklyn just waiting to take these guys places?

I'm really upset after reading about the Wichita massacre. It's disturbing to me that I had to hear about it from Progunner than our local news, or even national news channels.

As I told him, of course it was racially motivated. There's no way in hell the Carrs would have gone that far with what they did if the victims were ALL Black. I can still see them raping/murdering if the victims were Asian, as well. Btw- that was not meant as a racist statement against African Americans, as I'm a minority myself (Asian/White from Hawaii) but I'm just trying to point out the fact that it was a hate crime.

KyJim: So you don't even answer the door for the mailman, UPS guy, random friend dropping by, neighbor, etc? A little too paranoid for my tastes....then again, I always keep my door locked and have a peephole to spy on the person before opening the door.

My wife drives me crazy because she has a habit of leaving the door wide open (screen door closed). I grew up in a bad neighborhood and when I'm home the doors are closed and locked. I don't care how nice my neighborhood is now, I don't care if it is the middle of the day, my door are closed and locked. However, I will not walk around my house with my handgun, I have small children. I have an alarm system and decent lighting. Plan is wife and kids go out the back door and I hold them off at the front, while trying to trip the alarm to call the cops. If we are upstairs asleep. My wife goes to the kids room, locks the door, and takes the kids out the window. I'm holding the bad guys advance this time with a gun and a cell phone dialing 911. My theory is I will take the bullet, stab wound or beating as my family escapes. Unless you have your weapon drawn and pointing at the front door 24/7 you will not be able to stop someone in your family from being hurt or killed when a group of armed thugs kick down your door unexpectly.

The way I see it, if you don't keep a gun by your side when you're in your house, then what's the point of having one IN the house?

BG: Hello, mind if I break into your home?
You: Sure, just let me go grab the handgun out of my safe. It'll only take a minute.
BG: Aight... just let me know when it's cool to shatter this sliding door.
You: Be right back.
BG [raising his voice so you can hear him from the other room]: Shame about the Astros, huh?
You: Don't remind me. ...Okay, I've got it.
BG: Right. Here goes! [Breaks into your home]
You: You know, I don't feel that I can shoot you now. After our conversation, I feel we have developed a bond between resident and assailant.
BG: I feel the same way. We should go bowling.
You: What about the glass?
BG: I'll pay for it if you let me take some stuff out of here.

Well... that went to kind of a weird place... still, I stand by my point.

"The way I see it, if you don't keep a gun by your side when you're in your house, then what's the point of having one IN the house?"

That's the conclusion that I came up with. The only way I know of that I would always have a gun right where I need it when I need it is to have it on my person. That way, I don't need to think: "Ok, they are kicking in the door, where is the closest gun?". No question where, if I've got it on my person or within arm's reach. It doesn't do me any good if it is in the safe. It does me no good if I'm downstairs and the gun is in the beside table upstairs. It does me no good if it is in the closet. So I've either got one pocket carry, IWB or sitting right by my side.

After all, the sliding glass patio door is just right there, right in eyesight of the family room, and the up-stairs are right in front of the entry way door. I have no guarantee that I would have any time at all to fetch a weapon, not given the way my house is laid out. It isn't a bad layout for "lights out" defense on the 2nd floor, but there just isn't a good way to get upstairs if an invasion happens while I/we are downstairs.

About small children: We don't have any and won't, so it isn't an issue.

When you have children under the age of majority, your guns must either be locked up or on your person. If it is on you, your child will not be able to grab it out of your purse or nightstand or whatever. If it is on you, you do not have to worry about "time to react". You need almost none.

My CHL instructor does recommend to not keep a loaded gun by the side of the bed, on the theory that many of us need the physical activity of getting out of bed to go GET the ammo (assuming the unloaded gun is by the bed). I probably do not need to do that. OTOH, I absolutely, positively, will not allow my husband to keep a gun by his side of the bed; I would not even sleep in the same house if he did. Reason? He sleepwalks, sleeptalks, doesn't have a clue what he's doing or saying. Usually it's totally goofy talking, but he has been known to go do things. One of those things CANNOT be "get ahold of a gun". Therefore, the loaded gun is on my side under my control where he can't get it without waking me.

Nobody is going to get into the house without me being able to react. Alarm, dogs, the noise of breaking glass or kicked in door, or even the civilized sound of a doorbell...none need be met with "oh, nuts, I have to go find my gun!"

Sad to report that our local newspaper, Newsday, just had an article that 3 more home invasions took place in the past day. Even though they caught the original gang, new vermin have taken their place. Same MO, broke in through sliding doors and weak apt doors, pulled guns, and pistol whipped and robbed. In at least one case a single woman lived with her 15 year old daughter. Imagine when we get the gun ban like SanFran?

Just before leaving for a business trip a couple weeks ago I bought my wife a Remington 870 with an 18 1/2" barrel. She also now keeps her cell phone on a charger in the bedroom. She understands that if she hears what she thinks is a person in the house she is to leave our 3 yr old daughter locked in her room and cover the stairs with the shotgun until the cavalry arrives. She also knows to call the police after she has secured the stairs.

We make a point of keeping the downstairs doors and window locked closed. Even in the summer when oppened for ventillation there are blocks on them to keep more than an arm getting in. We also have a 103 pound Rhodesian Ridgeback who owns the downstairs. If anyone gets near the house he lets us know. So far I do not know of one home invasion on LI where a medium to large breed dog was present.

Good point Musketeer, I have a smaller dog but she barks like crazy if anyone or anything comes near our home. I came to the same conclusion, I have not read about any dogs being present in the homes that have been invaided. Additionally, the main point of entry seems to be mostly sliding doors of which I have none. A few of the people actually had the doors unlocked so the perps just slid them open and entered! The woman from the last invasion was naked in her bathroom having just finished a shower, she was blow drying her hair when the gun came up in her face. She actually smacked the gun with the blow dryer and the thieves took off, what dumb luck. And I do mean dumb, she could have easily been killed but was lucky it was just two punk kids instead of cold blooded killers like the previous gang. We are such easy picking here on Long Island, my neighbor for example has sliding doors and they are always left unlocked. I wish people would be more careful and safe, this is reality and could happen anywhere but I guess its like the smokers who don't yet have cancer, they think it'll never happen to them, till it does.....

The sliding glass door thing always worried me... We do not have one by my mother, who lives alone in a good sized house near Ronkonkoma, does. She also has absolutely ZERO common sense about home security, leaving doors unlocked and assuming the neighbors would see any strangers... She has an unloaded shotgun in the bedroom inside a case from before my father passed away; living alone there is no reason it should not be ready to rock and roll. She is only about 60 and still works a full week. Her mind is fully there so this is not old age clouding her logic but the effect of growing up in the "Long Island Protective Bubble." She also is a smoker who thinks she will never get cancer...

My wife is glad to have the dog but figures if someone really was determined they would just shoot it. I have yet to get her to beleive that these home invaders do not want to make a lot of noise and attract attention, as a gunshot would do. They also want to catch you completely unaware and prevent any resistance. You cannot reason with a dog so I would think they are avoiding such houses. Just the prescense of the animal works wonders in keeping all sorts of unwanted visitors away. We are far from a rich house with no obvious wealth so it is not like they figure we would be worth more trouble than another house on the same block without a dog.

I am more concerned about recent happenings on my block. It sounds like one of the kids across the street may be a part of a gang or in trouble with one. We do not know the family well but they practice "free range" child rearing. Parents are hardly ever in sight and the kids are alone and completely unsupervised. Too see them on Sunday you would consider them a decent working class Italian family, with brothers, sisters, cousins and grandparents coming over for Sunday dinner. The rest of the week though it is different. A couple are troublemakers and large groups have been congregating in the street. Event the 11 year old makes a habit of getting into trouble up and down the block and is home alone almost every day. My next door neighbor saw a group of over 50 she believes and the rumour was they were "looking" for a kid on the block. Given my neighbor's propensity for gossip I would cut the group in half but 20+ is still a respectable group. We make certain when the older kids from across the street are hanging out in the street that the dog gets some free time in the yard. You can see the 6' stockade fence shake when he hits it and he lets them know he is there. I want every one of those pieces of garbage to know that at the very least there is a dog there that could take out their throat.

My wife is likewise unconcerened about security and leaves the door open when letting the dog out, and it makes me nuts. I have drilled it into our kids head about the door and they both lock it when they let the dog out and make sure that all the doors are secure. Forget about me keeping a loaded gun nearby, my wife would go ballistic so that is out of the question. I maintain security when I am home and that is really all I can do, I hope in the next couple of years we can move to another state where there are more personal freedoms, and less taxes.

This email link is to reach site administrators for assistance, if you cannot access TFL via other means. If you are a TFL member and can access TFL, please do not use this link; instead, use the forums (like Questions, Suggestions, and Tech Support) or PM an appropriate mod or admin.

If you are experiencing difficulties posting in the Buy/Sell/Trade subforums of TFL, please read the "sticky" announcement threads at the top of the applicable subforum. If you still feel you are qualified to post in those subforums, please contact "Shane Tuttle" (the mod for that portion of TFL) via Private Message for assistance.

This email contact address is not an "Ask the Firearms Expert" service. Such emails will be ignored. If you have a firearm related question, please register and post it on the forums.